Accommodations

Resources for Accommodations in a Chemistry Laboratory

These recommendations reflect the views of the site authors (Drs. Booksh and Rozovsky) only.

Service dogs

Having a Service Dog in a Research Laboratory

Patricia Redden’s presentation about Service dogs in the academic laboratory

A great discussion of service dogs in the laboratory in Nature 2021

Also see:

—Redden, P.  Service Dogs in the Chemistry Laboratory, Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, 2016, 23(1), 32-34

and bringing service dogs into the lab

Sight

From our very own SELI program! Using Graphiti and tactile graphics for protein visualization. See free article

Implementation of Protocols To Enable Doctoral Training in Physical and Computational Chemistry of a Blind Graduate Student

Adapting Advanced Inorganic Chemistry Lecture and Laboratory Instruction for a Legally Blind Student

Accessible Chemistry Curriculum used by Accessible Science to make hands-on chemistry accessible to blind or visually impaired high school and early college students pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed300600p

The value of safety and practicality: Recommendations for training disabled students in the sciences with a focus on blind and visually impaired students in chemistry laboratories

The webpage of Accessible Science, a nonprofit that runs hands-on chemistry camps for blind or visually impaired students: www.accessiblescience.org

See also Mona Minkara website Vision is More Than Sight

Not an accommodation per se but watch Annamarie Ross who teaches at RIT

Emerging technologies: Helping blind navigate 

Microsoft brings live captioning to Office apps

New technology: high tech glasses

Next-generation artificial vision

Our team recommends Dragon NaturallySpeaking for voice recognition software. Also recommended is https://www.naturalreaders.com/ which reads in a natural voice.

Hearing

Teaching Chemistry to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students in the time of COVID-19

Access technology resources from the Rochester Institute of Technology

Sonocent  – A highly recommended audio note taking program

Hearing Through the Chaos: Using Bluetooth devices in classrooms reverses dyslexia and improves reading ability

Community network for deaf scientists– a letter in Science April 28 2017

Welcoming deaf students into STEM – an article in Life Sciences Education Vol. 17, No. 3, September 1, 2018 

For additional information see relevant chapter in Teaching Chemistry to Students with Disabilities by Annemarie Ross (Author) and Todd Pagano (Author) – Open access book at http://scholarworks.rit.edu/ritbooks/2/

Do you have questions that are not addressed here? The National Technology Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology can be reached for questions at  http://www.ntid.rit.edu/contact

Additional references for Chemistry education for the blind:

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm12/bm1207/bm120703.htm

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed3000364

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed058p206

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ902512

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed084p1697

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed300600p

Mobility Impairment

Participation in science and engineering laboratories for students with physical disabilities: survey development and psychometrics

Prehensile Technologie develops new assist technology

Providing a chemistry laboratory experience for a cerebral-palsied student 

More about accessible laboratories on the University of Washington DO IT.

Speech impediment 

National stuttering association

Learning Disabilities

Science 2017 scientists with learning disabilities

A guide for selecting college for students with learning disability

Neurobiological

Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, Vanderbilt University

Landmark college for students who learn differently

Autism in Adulthood

Meet the Autistic Scientists Redefining Autism Research | The Scientist Magazine®

A few book suggestions that college educators, parents, and students will find helpful:

Teaching College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

College resources for students with disability

Traumatic brain injury 

Educational reintegration for students with traumatic brain injury; see AccreditedSchoolsOnline

Mental Health 

ASBMB Personalized protocols – Mandated by law, mental health accommodations can help some students and researchers succeed in the lab — but first they have to ask.

Hidden disabilities

What happens when you’re disabled but nobody can tell NYTimes 2020

How I came out about my disability NYTimes 2020

Making Computational Chemistry Accessible

Visually impaired researchers get their hands on quantum chemistry: application to a computational study on the isomerization of a sterol

Making Chemical Laboratories Accessible

Effective Laboratory Experiences for Students with Disabilities: The Role of a Student Laboratory Assistant

Combining the Maker Movement with Accessibility Needs in an Undergraduate Laboratory: A Cost-Effective Text-to-Speech Multipurpose, Universal Chemistry Sensor Hub (MUCSH) for Students with Disabilities

Consideration of higher risks for chemical exposure to persons with disabilities in laboratories

A service dog with his lab coat, goggles, and boots in an organic chemistry laboratory.